You might imagine that chain restaurants would spend vast amounts of time and money researching potential names in order to pick one that would convey exactly the desired associations and nuances. Certainly one that would not insult a portion of its intended customers.

I’m sure most do. Sambo’s was not among them.

Wouldn’t the founders of Sambo’s, in the late 1950s, dimly perceive that the name Sambo was not beloved by everyone, especially African-Americans?

Why would they decorate with images from the book “Little Black Sambo,” the American editions of which were filled with racist caricatures?

Evidently they had no idea that Sambo had been – and still was – a derogatory word for black males for over 100 years; that the name and ridiculous images of Sambo were used on many consumer products in the early 20th century; and that after WWII school libraries had complied with requests by African-Americans to remove the book from shelves.

Even if they didn’t know any of this, when protests erupted they might have realized they had made a terrible mistake. Regardless of whether “Sam-bo” originated from the first name of one of them combined with the nickname of the other.

Nope, nope, nope, and double nope.

Instead the founders, their successor, and the corporation that finally took over the chain all insisted right up to the bitter end that no harm was intended or implied. Even as they renamed some units in the East where there had been boycotts, the company insisted the change was purely in order to market their new menus.

The first Sambo’s was opened in Santa Barbara in 1957. [pictured] By 1977, when the son of one of the founders was heading the company, the chain was the country’s largest full-service restaurant chain, with 1,117 units.

But trouble was looming. Protests during the West Coast chain’s expansion into the Northeast had already resulted in renaming units in the Albany NY area “Jolly Tiger.” Eventually there were 13 Jolly Tigers in various towns. Protest would spread to Reston VA, New York, and New England including at least 9 towns in Massachusetts. In 1981 the Rhode Island Commission on Human Rights ordered the company to change its name in that state because indirectly the name violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act by denying public accommodations to black persons.

The company responded that it would rename 18 of its Northeastern units “No Place Like Sam’s”; in fact according to an advertisement a few months later they actually renamed 41 units.

Soon thereafter the company began to collapse. In November 1981 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, closing more than a third of its units. In Leominster and Stoughton MA, early morning customers had to pick up and get out immediately so the restaurants could be padlocked.

In 1982 all, or most, remaining Sambo’s were renamed Seasons. By 1984 most of the Seasons restaurants had been sold to Godfather’s Pizza and other buyers.

The successive name switches undoubtedly hurt business, but a more serious problem was that Sambo’s, like other chains using a coffee shop format with table service and extensive menus, had been steadily losing out to fast food chains.

The chain is kaput yet the beat goes on. The original Sambo’s in Santa Barbara continues in business under new ownership – still using the thoroughly discredited name. On its website it also continues the threadbare tradition of justifying the name as a compound of the founders’ names.

18 responses to “Name trouble: Sambo’s”

Its high time for blacks to stop pointing fingers and whinning 24/7. We are all tired of it and we all need to move on. I loved sambos. I never thought about a racial overtone of its name when I ate their. I saw many blacks eating and working there.

Actually the OWNER / FOUNDER was Sam Battistone, Sr. He was born in Santa Stefano di Sessanio, Italy (1913) and immigrated to the U.S. with his mother in 1919 (Just outside of Pittsburgh, PA – his father was already here. His father, made his living as a coal miner. Sam also worked in mines as well. Income was sparse, due to Union strife. Sam Eventually left – hopping freight trains from PA – to California with a friend (he was a genuine rail rider / hobo for a while).

He settled in Glendale, CA – worked as a cook – met his future wife there. He and his family moved to Santa Barbara in 1947. Again, he was drawn to the restaurant business. He had a restaurant on State St, called Sammy’s – he had a business relationship with an equipment supplier, by the name of Newell BOhnett. Sam borrowed $5,000.00 US from Newell, found a great location on Cabrillo Blvd (facing the Pacific Ocean) and Sambo’s (THEIR NAMES) was born on June, 17, 1957.

Neither of this gentlemen had a racist bone in their body, at it’s peak, Sambo’s employed over 60,000 Americans of ALL races and backgrounds. Sam was very generous and gave back to the community many times over and established a foundation to help the Seniors of Santa Barbara.

The story of Little Black Sambo was indeed used as a marketing tool. As has been mentioned, this ‘story’ takes place in Asia NOT Africa – and the interest in the story by the restaurant was due to the fact the story ends on a high note of serving Pancakes, which is what Sambo’s Restaurant specialized in the day.

If one wants to find fault – look to the original author and the illustrations within the book – BUT… keep in mind, the time frame of the story (1899) into the mid 20th Century was an entirely different era and mind set.

It’s fine to disagree with the premise of the story, restaurant and the so-called ‘Racist Overtones” implied by the owner of this web page and others who have over the years, have made some fairly bold assumptions.

For me personally, I am now in my mid 60’s, I am an African American, Black, Colored, Negro man… I both, in my lifetime, have worked and eaten at Sambo’s (in Illinois).

As a young man, I met Sam Battistone, he extended his hand to me and as an employee and a fellow human being, he showed me the respect that I had earned up to that time and he was very kind to all those he met, or who may have worked for him.

It was my pleasure to work for this fine gentleman and while I worked hard, I was always proud to have been associated with the Sambo’s Restaurant family.

Do not judge, lest ye be judged – unless you have walked in MY shoes and have lived MY life – you have no idea of what you are talking about.

Have a good day, sir. And I am grateful that Sambo’s was there for me.

Mrs. Bannerman’s book–despite the idiotic protests from those who never got beyond the title–is set in India…Last I heard, there are no tigers on the African continent…nor is ghee much of a favorite there…

There is yet today a “Lil’ Sambo’s Family Restaurant” in coastal Lincoln City, Oregon. They too have a “justification” for their name, which they attribute to Helen Bannerman’s 1899 children’s book. Sigh.

The little Lil’ Sambo’s in Lincoln City was there BEFORE SAMBO’S came to Oregon. IT IS NOT SAMBO’S ! Never was. Sambo’s never could come there , having started in Medford as its first Oregon location. There was a conflict of names to come into your locale.

Having lived and worked in Santa Barbara in the 70’s I am very familiar with Sambo’s. This concern about the name being racist was and continues to be politically correct nonsense. The Sambo’s name was simply the combining of SAM and Bo, the names of the founders..long before the popular children’s book “Little Black Sambo” by Helen Bannerman made its’ way into popular American culture…for better or worse.

You might say “they should have known better” but I say “get over it”.
At the time the chain offered terrific meals 24 hours/day at reasonable prices. The employees (from my observation) were happy and the compensation to managers broke the “long hours for no pay” mold in the restaurant industry with an ingenious payment plan based on gross weekly volume similar to the Valle’s steak house chain in the East.

Yeah, those politically correct negroes had some nerve! Always being over-sensitive. All those pictures of the little ni-black boy inside the restaurants prove that Sambo’s was just a contraction of two good white people’s names. Those coloreds even made Quaker Oats change Aunt Jemima’s picture away from being one of a proper Black Mammy, like she’s supposed to be. We need to take back this country!

That’s what I say, too, Eric! Get frickin’ over it! My god, people… is that how insecure you are?? You’re going to let the name of a *restaurant* determine how worthy *you* are, as a human being?? And, for this blogger to insinuate that they lied about how they came up with the name… what the hell do YOU know about these people?? Geez-Louise! What a moron!

Let’s say it’s true that the origin of the name was innocently dreamed up. But how unconscious would someone have to be not to realize what it communicates? Not to mention the bungled response to valid criticism. It’s an embarrassment.

Historic restaurant quotation:
“Our special Blue Plate luncheon service has been designed, primarily, for speedy service. The entire luncheon is on one plate. There are no side dishes. The waitress is enabled to bring the complete luncheon in one trip – you can eat in 20 minutes if you desire.” – 1930

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We eat in restaurants several times a week and yet know very little about their history. I plan to dip into my archive of research and images every so often to present a little tidbit that highlights aspects of our American restaurant culture. Let me know your thoughts.
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